Receivers for solar concentrators are the focus for light which has intensity greater than sunlight. Some concentrators produce an intensity equivalent to two or three multiples of the intensity of sunlight, while other concentrators can produce light forty or fifty times as intense as sunlight. The focused light can be directed toward a receiver, which can be a thermal conversion device, such as a working fluid conduit or a Stirling engine, a photovoltaic cell, or a combination of the thermal conversion device with a photovoltaic cell.
For applications which direct concentrated sunlight on a photovoltaic cell, some heat is produced by the focused light impinging on the cell. As the heat experienced by the photovoltaic cell increases, its conversion efficiency decreases. Accordingly, it is desirable to conduct heat away from the photovoltaic cell.
One technique for conducting heat away from the photovoltaic cell is to thermally couple the cell to a heat sink. The shape and composition of the heat sink can determine its effectiveness at conducting heat away from the photovoltaic cell and consequently affect the efficiency of the cell.